Race fans, we’re coming down to it. This weekend is the penultimate weekend of the NASCAR season, and it’s going to be a busy one. Martinsville Speedway will host four days of racing, the first of which is already underway for the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
Outside of Virginia, Formula 1 wraps up a short North American swing with a trip to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. The fans will be out in force at the Foro Sol and all over the rest of the circuit.
Martinsville NASCAR TV Schedule
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Practice: 2:05 p.m. ET Friday on FS2
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Qualifying: 3:10 p.m. ET Friday on FS2
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Slim Jim 200: 6 p.m. ET Friday on FS1
NASCAR Xfinity Series Practice: 1 p.m. ET Saturday on The CW App
NASCAR Xfinity Serie Qualifying: 2:05 p.m. ET Saturday on The CW App
NASCAR Cup Series Practice: 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday on TruTV/HBO Max
NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying: 5:40 p.m. ET Saturday on TruTV/HBO Max
NASCAR Xfinity Series IAA and Ritchie Bros. 250: 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday on The CW
NASCAR Cup Series Xfinity 500: 2 p.m. ET Sunday on NBC/Peacock
This weekend, the Championship 4 drivers will be decided in all three of NASCAR’s National-level series at Martinsville Speedway. It’s going to be a very busy and rather cramped time at the paperclip.
NASCAR Cup Series teams are scheduled to load into the garage Saturday morning for preparations and inspection. Practice is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET with live coverage on TruTV and HBO Max. Qualifying will follow at 5:40 p.m. ET.
Coverage of the Xfinity 500 will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET Sunday afternoon with Countdown to Green on NBC and Peacock. Race coverage will start at 2 p.m. ET with the green flag around 2:05 p.m. ET.
NASCAR Xfinity Series teams are scheduled to load into the track Friday morning. However, the teams will not be allowed to park their haulers in the infield due to lack of space. They will offload what they need and push it to their assigned stalls before the haulers go park outside of the track. Expect crewmembers to have to make multiple dashes through the pedestrian tunnel to grab things during the weekend. There will be no Xfinity on-track activity on Friday.
Xfinity teams are scheduled to practice at 1 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon with live coverage on The CW App and The CW’s website. Qualifying will follow at 2:05 p.m. ET. This will be exclusive to the app and website since The CW will be airing a college football game (Southern Methodist vs. Wake Forest) during the sessions.
Coverage of the IAA and Ritchie Bros. 250 will begin with NASCAR Countdown Live at 7 p.m. ET on The CW. Race coverage will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET with the green flag around 7:40 p.m. ET.
NASCAR Countdown Live is scheduled immediately after another college football game, Toledo vs. Washington State. If this second game goes long, there is a possibility that NASCAR Countdown Live could get pushed to NewsNation. We will update you on social media if that happens.
Friday will be the domain of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Truck teams will practice starting at 2 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 2. Qualifying will follow at 3:10 p.m. ET.
Coverage of the Slim Jim 200 will begin at 6 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1. The green flag should fly around 6:20 p.m. ET.
What’s the Weather Looking Like?
For this weekend, the weather looks pretty nice, but a little cool. I’d recommend bringing a jacket for all three days since at least some of the racing will take place under the LED lights.
Friday’s forecast is for sunny skies with a high of 64°. There is no chance of rain. However, it will likely be down in the 40s by the time the Truck race ends, so take that into consideration.
Saturday’s forecast will be a little cooler. There will be a mix of clouds and sun with a high of 60°. Remember that the Xfinity race is a full night race. It’ll be in the low 50s by race time and the low 40s by the checkered flag.
Sunday is the coolest of the three days, but with the earliest race start of the three. The forecast is for cloudy skies with a high in the upper 50s. Note that there will be frost advisories every night this weekend and a freeze is possible Saturday morning.
The fall race at Martinsville has moved around a bunch in recent years. However, prior to 2002, the race was typically in late September.
There have been a number of these races run in hot and humid conditions. Likely the best example of that was the 1998 NAPA AutoCare 500, where Ricky Rudd had his air conditioning fail in the opening laps. He persevered through 150° in-car temperatures and literally broiling himself to win.
The last time a fall race at Martinsville was postponed was the 2001 Old Dominion 500. That race ran on Monday and saw Ricky Craven beat Dale Jarrett to earn his first career win. The 1997 Hanes 500 was also postponed.
The last Martinsville race to be shortened due to weather was the 1995 Hanes 500. That race had a long rain delay in the middle of it. NASCAR was able to get the track dried and resumed, but the race was ultimately shortened to 356 laps due to darkness.
TV Ratings Check — Talladega
Sunday’s broadcast of the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway had 2.556 million viewers on NBC. This is higher than in recent weeks, but still down more than 18% from last year. The 2024 YellaWood 500 broadcast had 3.127 million viewers.
Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series United Rentals 250 had 980,000 viewers on The CW. This is up almost 7% over last year’s broadcast, which had 917,000 viewers.
Unfortunately, ratings and viewership from Friday’s Love’s RV Stop 225 for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is currently unavailable. Note that despite the 4 p.m. ET start, the race aired on FOX. Last year’s race had 343,000 viewers on FS1.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.